February 28 2015
My dearest pinball fans,
While I am doing everything I can to keep moving forward at all times, no matter what the circumstances are, there have been many recent actions by certain parties that threaten the very existence of everything I've done to keep this project going for the past few years. While slow and steady wins many races, and I am a firm believer in actions speaking louder than words, this is simply not the time to stay quiet. There are some major issues that need to be spoken to immediately, and must be handled in exactly the right ways.
To the few of you who have asked for a refund, it is surely coming. While these things always take some time, they are taking longer than usual due to the above circumstances. In short, no matter what, nobody is going to get left out to dry on this one, I can promise you that.
To all of the supporters of what I have done and continue to do on a daily basis, I sincerely thank you for all of your support and faith in what you believe I am capable of achieving for you. I will continue to do everything I can to make sure that faith was not misplaced.
I will be sending out as much information as I can as we move through these challenges, so please keep an eye on your inboxes for any updates as they come in.
Thank you all for everything,
-Kevin
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March 1st 2015
There has been some confusion over the reason for the message that was sent out last night, so please allow me the opportunity to clarify what seemed very cryptic that message.
I'm aware the message seemed cryptic and vague, but that was not the intent. The project is not "imploding" or dying. I've received a handful of messages from folks reading between the lines, but there simply are no lines to read between. In the past, radio silence in the face of a situation has caused unrest, so I decided to share the fact that there are parties that are trying to threaten the project and try to ease everyone's collective minds and remind you all that everything is moving along despite the situation.
To the heaps of supportive messages and kind responses I received last night, I sincerely thank you all. To everyone else, I hope this helps clear things up a bit. I'll be keeping you all posted on how everything is moving along!
Apologies for the confusion,
-Kevin
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18th March
Email received by Pre-Order customers:
Good evening once again, fellow pinballers. The atmosphere around our
Predator project has gotten pretty thick, so please allow me to clear the air on all of this stuff.
First and foremost, I need to thank you all for your support. That term has a tendency to feel cliche, but the world of pre-order pinball is in a dark place right now and I understand that it takes an absolute ton of commitment and faith on your part to stick around during these times. You have all invested incalculable amounts of support into something you saw to be great, with no way of knowing how it would turn out. With the amount of doubts out there, that can't be easy, and you all need to know that it certainly doesn't go unnoticed. Every step I take in this endeavor is with the clear goal in mind to make sure that when all is said and done, you all can rest assured that you made the right choice, and what felt like a risk was worth it.
About a year ago, we proudly declared that our mission was complete. The
Predator machine was totally finished and we simply needed to button up some loose ends and get started building the machines. That simple process has turned out to be the most difficult challenge I have ever faced, and has been the most humbling experience I have known in my life. Throughout the creative process, we had immense amounts of involvement with the community, and collected ideas and feedback from a multitude of sources that made our game something of a collective effort. Excitement was infectious while everyone got to chime in with their ideas and criticism and watch the game change as a direct result, which all led up to a finished product that we all could feel proud of, and know we were all a part of. As we made the transition into manufacturing, the good news and excitement went to the wayside in favor of slowdowns and setbacks, which makes communication very difficult in direct comparison. I'm aware that sounds like a bit of a cop-out, and I make no attempt to cover that up. This situation is of my own doing. By allowing our reputation of constant and perpetual engagement turn into a reputation of inaccessibility, we broke a tight bond with all of you. In the beginning when all you guys wanted to know was what was happening to the game and what future plans were, it was easy to stay engaged and excited. Now that we're past all of that and into the next phase, the questions get much heavier and harder to deal with directly. With naive fears of letting folks down with updates of manufacturing hurdles and setbacks, we became almost completely distant and now when we need the excitement and confidence the most, we have become all but undeserving of it. Not being able to bring a good message is difficult, but I get it. You all need to see progress and measureable steps being made. While we have done what we could with what we had, that will no longer suffice, so that is what I bring you today: progress and measureable steps being made.
It's a difficult sentiment to realize, but I'm sure many of you will breathe a bit easier when I finally outwardly state that this project has become more than I can handle on my own. A few close friends have jokingly informed me that my earlier comment of "making pinball machines is hard" has kind of become a catch phrase attributed to me, and I'll own it again, as it clearly remains the case. Thankfully, the pinball community is built on a foundation of the most helpful and genuinely good people on the planet, and we have gotten help from the best of the best on all levels.
While manufacturing these games here is certainly possible, it is most definitely not optimal. I fear that with our modest setup, the fellow with game #250 would still be a year or more away from getting his game. With that in mind, we are contracting an experienced manufacturer to handle the assembly of the games to ensure that they are completed within a reasonable time frame and pass even the most scrutinizing quality tests. Our ability to see the manufacturing through to the end has been a constant public concern from day one, and while I thank you all again for believing we can do it, going this route will remove that concern and allow you all to rest a little easier by removing that major variable. What does this mean for you, the owners? Getting your game sooner with less chance of unforeseen issues upon delivery. It's a little too early to be sharing names at this point, as the finer details are still being worked out, so more on this soon. Rest assured that your investment is being taken care of by more capable hands than ever.
Let's talk for a second about licensing. We are very aware of the emails and PM's circulating around claiming we never had the licensing support to sell machines using the
Predator IP. In our attempts to gather showable documents to prove this wrong, we learned that our licensing deal really wasn't what we thought it was. Thankfully, with the understanding folks who control said IP and the help of a lifelong family friend, these hurdles are quickly being overcome. Again, what does this mean for you, the owners? More fluent updates on progress, the addition of licensed images to our website and communications, the return of the gameplay videos(!), and much more. There is a lot of contextual information here that can't really be conveyed very well in this fashion, so we've been in talks with Martin from PinballNews.com, along with the most notable of podcasts to make sure this story gets told in the most complete and understandable way possible.
In short, I've pretty much done everything wrong during this whole process and you guys are still here. I can't repay that kind of dedication by sticking with more of the same, so everything is becoming much more "real." Getting "real" manufacturers on board with "real" licensing support along "real" timelines with "real" communication from the creators of your "real" game. Expect to be hearing a lot more from us as things continue to move in this new and exciting direction, but if you need anything from me, please don't hesitate to send me a message right away.
To those of you who have requested a refund and have yet to hear back, please message me right away so we can get everything taken care of.
Thank you all again for your continued support,
-Kevin
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i suspect this was the trigger. those first two emails were awful waffle, the latest one only a little better but it sounds like Pred is gonna end up being made in either the Stern or the JJP factory.
, anyway if anyone wants to pre-order and chuck loads of money into my account on the off-chance it will actually go into production, will be half decent when completed with finished code, let me know and I will bounce over my bank details 
